MANUFACTURE 

DYKING 

PRINTING 

AND 
FINISHING 

OF 
TTFXTILFS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Boston  Library  Consortium  IVIember  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/manufacturedyeinOOpaci 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


INCORPORATED  IN  1853. 


COTTOX  DEPARTMENT 

PACIFIC  MILLS 
LAWRENCE,    MASS. 

152,992  spindles  and  3,833  looms  making  cotton  cloths  for  printing  and  dyeins 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


COCHECO   DEPARTMENT 
PACIFIC  MILLS 
DOVEE,    N.   H. 

148,128  spindles  and  3,612  looms  making  cotton  cloths  for  printing  and  dyeing. 


HAMPTON     DEPiVllTMENT 

.PACIFIC  ailJ^LS. 
COL03IB-IAt*S-.   O.  ' 

198,736  spindles  and  4,757  looms  making  cotton  cloths  for  printing  and  dyeing. 

179574 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


Bleachinsi-,  rtyeinii-,  pi 


I'KINT  W<JKKS  DEPARTMENT 

PVCTFIC  MILLS 

I.\W1!KN(E,  :\IASS. 

itiiiii-  ;ni(l  fiiiisliiiiii-  cotton  cloths. 


W<  )KSTED   DEPAKT>rKXT 

VACIFIC   MILLS' 

lamiuTnck.  AIASS. 
,880  worsted  spindles,  31,360  spiiicic.   i  in  c  onibed  cotton  yarns, 
making  cotton- war))  aiiiL  a II -wool 'dress  goods. 


ind:!,43o  looms 


PACIFIC  MILLvS 


Foreword 


This  pamphlet  was  compiled  and  printed 
at  the  office  of  the  Pacific  Mills,  in  Lawrence 
Massachusetts.  It  is  intended  to  be  used  in 
connection  with  cabinets,  made  for  school 
use,  showing  cotton  and  wool  at  each  stage 
of  manufacture  from  the  raw  material  to  the 
dyed,  printed  and  finished  cloth. 


PACIFIC  MILLvS 


COTTON     BOLLS 


THE  MANUFACTURE  OF 
COTTON   INTO   CLOTH. 


THE   cotton  fibre  from  which  our  common 
cloth  is  made,  grows  on  a  plant  perhaps 
about  two  feet  high  mainly  in  our  South- 
ern   States,    along   the    Gulf   coast,     and   as   far 
north  as  the  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  where  the 
soil  and  weather  are   best  suited   for   it,   but   it 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


A   COTTON   FIKLD   IN   SOt'TH  CAKOLIXA 


also  grows  in  other  parts  of  the  World  as  well. 
The  seeds  are  planted  in  the  Springtime, 
and  the  little  plant  soon  bears  a  yellowish 
flower;  this  blooms  only  a  few  days,  and  then 
a  little  pod  grows  in  its  place,  full  of  seeds,  and 
these  seeds  are  wrapped  up  in  downy  fibres  like 
fine  hairs.  In  September  or  October,  when  the 
cotton  is  ripe,  the  pods,  which  are  called  "bolls" 
burst  open  and  you  see  the  fluffy  white  bunch 
of  cotton  which  looks  something  like  our  com- 
mon milkweed  pod. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


The  cotton  pickers  now  go  through  the  fields 
with  their  great  bags,  and  pick  the  cotton  by 
hand.  Then  they  take  it  to  what  is  called  the 
cotton  "Gin,"  a  machine  which  separates  the 
cotton  from  the  seeds  around  which  it  grows, 
and  then  it  is  pressed  hard  into  great  bundles 
called  "bales,"  each  of  which  will  weigh  about 
five  hundred  pounds,  covered  with  bagging  and 
held  together  by  strong  iron  hoops. 

When    these    bales    of    cotton     reach    the 
mill   the   cotton   is  in  a  close  mass ;   the  fibres 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


A  BALE  OF  COTTON 


which  are  kinky,  are  crossed  and  recrossed,  and 
wrapped  around  each  other  like  a  bunch  of 
snarled  hair.  Besides  this  the  cotton  contains 
dirt,  sand,  seeds  and  pieces  of  leaves. 

Now  suppose  we  go  into  the  cotton  mill  and 
see  what  is  done  to  this  dirty  cotton  before  it 
can  be  made  into  nice,  clean  cloth,  like  your 
fresh,  clean  handkerchief.  If  we  could  follow 
one  of  these  bales  through  the  mill,  the  differ- 
ent rooms,  and  the  machines  it  would  have  to 
pass  through  would  be  about  like  this : 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


BALE  BREAKERS  AND  CARRYING  BELT 


PICKING.     The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  take  out 
^Jl^  all  we  can  of  this  dirt,  for  we  can- 

not make  clean  yarn  or  cloth  from 
dirty  cotton.  A  man  gets  a  bale  of  cotton  from 
the  storehouse  and  wheels  it  on  a  truck  to  the 
"Picker"  room.  He  cuts  the  hoops,  takes  off 
the  bagging  from  the  outside  of  the  bale,  and 
throws  the  cotton  into  a  machine  called  a  "Bale- 
breaker"  which  breaks  up  the  mass  of  cotton 
into  small  bunches,  and  then  it  is  carried  by  a 
long  belt  to  the  "Feeders".     The  machines  have 


10 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


INTERMEDIATE    PICKER 


wooden  slats  with  pins  in  them  which  pick  up 
the  cotton  and  carry  it  into  the  Opener  where 
it  is  torn  or  picked  apart  just  as  you  would 
with  your  fingers,  into  little  bits  of  pieces. 
Then  it  falls  into  a  wooden  trunk  which  slants 
upward  and  a  draft  of  air  from  a  fan  sucks  it 
up  through  this  trunk  along  iron  rods,  and  as  it 
is  all  in  little  pieces  the  sand  and  heavy  waste 
drops  down  into  the  bottom  of  the  trunk. 

When  it  comes  out  at  the  other  end  of  this 
trunk  it  drops  into  the  next  machine  which 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


11 


FIXISHER   PICKER 


makes  it  into  a  sheet  or  "lap"  and  it  is  rolled  up 
on  a  stick  and  is  nearly  as  big  as  a  barrel.  Then 
four  of  these  laps  are  put  into  another  machine 
called  the  Intermediate,  then  four  from  that  ma- 
chine into  the  Finisher,  and  all  these  machines 
pick  the  cotton  to  pieces  and  beat  out  the  dirt, 
and  the  lap  from  the  last  machine  looks  like  what 
you  know  as  "Cotton  Batting." 

Now  we  think  we  have  the  heavy  sand  and  dirt 
all  taken  out,  but  still  there  are  some  pieces  of 
leaves  which  we  must  get  rid  of,  and  then  the  cot- 


12 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


A  COTTON  CARD 


ton  is  still  more  or  less  matted  together,  and  be- 
fore we  can  make  it  into  yarn  the  fibres  must  be 
straightened  out  and  made  to  lie  side  by  side ; 
there  are  also  short  bits  of  fibres  which  we  must 
take  out  if  we  want  the  yarn  to  be  strong  and  even. 


CARDING.     Next  we  go  to  the  Carding  Room 
^I^  Here  the  lap  is  put  into  a  ma- 

chine called  a  "Card,"  which 
has  two  big  drums  which  roll  together  but  do 
not  quite  touch,     The  outside  of  these  drums  is 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


13 


A    COTTON   CARD,  DELIVERY  END 


covered  with  leather  or  cloth  in  which  fine  wires 
sharpened  like  needles  are  set  close  together, 
and  the  cotton  is  brushed  between  the  two 
drums  and  straightened  out  much  as  when  you 
brush  your  hair,  and  the  wide  lap,  over  a  yard 
wide  when  it  goes  into  the  Card,  comes  out  a 
fine  clean  light  strand  about  like  a  big  rope,  and 
is  coiled  or  wound  around  into  a  tall  can  about 
three  feet  high  and  a  foot  across  the  top.  Next 
these  cans  are  taken  to  the  Drawing  frames. 
There    are    three    of  these,  one   right  after  the 


14 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


T>K AWING  TEAMES 


Other,  and  each  one  takes  6  of  these  strands  like 
cotton  rope,  and  runs  them  in  between  little  rolls 
and  they  come  out  only  one  strand  about  as  large 
as  each  one  of  the  6  it  was  made  from.  The  cot- 
ton is  now  as  clean  as  we  can  get  it,  and  the  little 
cotton  fibres  have  been  straightened  out  and  we 
are  all  ready  to  make  this  cotton  rope  smaller 
and  smaller  until  it  is  fine  yarn  like  thread. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


15 


SLUBBERS 


ROVING  .      There  are  three  kinds  of  Roving 
i  frames  in  this  room,  each  of  these 

Slubber  ^^^  spindles  carrying  wooden  bob- 

Intermediate  bins  like  spools  without  heads. 
Fly  Frame  which  turn  very  rapidly.  Each 
machine  takes  two  strands  made 
on  the  machine  just  before  it,  and  makes  them 
into  one  strand  a  little  smaller,  so  that  what  was 
once  like  rope,  becomes  like  clothes-line,  then 
smaller  and  smaller  until  it  leaves  the  Fly  frame 


16 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


INTERMEDIATE  ROVING  FRAMES 


about  as  large  as  the  string  which  your  grocer  ties 
his  bundles  with.  Instead  of  calling  it  rope  or 
string  the  girls  in  the  mill  call  it  "Roving"  and 
it  is  wound  up  on  bobbins  as  they  whirl  about, 
and  looks  very  white  and  clean. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


17 


FINE  ROVING  FRAMES 


18 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


COTTON  ROVING,  rOUK  PROCESSUS 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


19 


COTTON  SPINlSriXG  "DOFFER"  GIRL 


SPINNING      Now  the  roving  is  fine  enough  to 
^I^^  spin  into    yarn.      The    bobbins 

Spinning  holding  the  roving  are  hollow. 

Twisting  ^^^  ^  stick  is  run  through  each 

one  and  it  is  set  up  straight  in  a 
rack  on  top  of  the  spinning  frame.  This  frame 
has  a  large  number  of  spindles  set  in  a  straight 
row  and  close  together  along  the  sides  of  the  ma- 
chine, and  on  each  spindle  is  a  small  bobbin  on 
which  the  yarn  is  wound  say  about  six  inches 
long   and  half  an  inch  thick.     A  strand  of  the 


20 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


A  COTTON  SPINNING  ROOM 


roving  from  the  bobbin  on  top  of  the  frame  is 
fed  through  a  little  trumpet,  then  it  goes  between 
iron  rolls  covered  with  leather  which  run  at  dif- 
ferent speeds,  and  they  pull  the  strand  out  and 
make  it  smaller,  then  it  goes  through  a  little 
rounded  piece  of  steel  called  a  "Traveler"  which 
runs  so  fast  you  cannot  see  it,  on  a  ring  about 
two  inches  across,  and  the  spindle  "spins"  like  a 
top  in  the  middle  of  this  ring. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  yarn,  the  warp  threads 
which  run   the  long  way  of  the  cloth,  and   the 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


21 


A  COTTON  SPINNER 


filling  threads  which  run  across  from  side  to  side 
The  filling  yarn  is  spun  on  its  kind  of  bobbins 
and  then  it  is  all  ready  to  go  directly  to  the  shut- 
tle which  unwinds  it  in  the  loom  when  we  are 
ready  to  make  the  yarn  into  cloth,  but  the  warp 
yarn  has  to  go  to  some  other  rooms,  and 
through  two  or  three  other  machines  before  we 
can  use  this  to  make  into  cloth.  Sometimes  also 
we  want  very  strong  yarn,  so  then  we  twist  two 
or  three  threads  of  yarn  together,  but  of  course 
this  makes   rather  coarse  yarn  and  heavy  cloth. 


22 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


COTTOX    TWISTING 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


23 


COTTON  SPINNERS  EXAMINING   YARN 


24 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


COTTON  YARN  ON  FILLING  BOBBIN,  WARP  BOBBIN,  SPOOL 


SPOOLING.         When  the  warp  yarn  is  put  into 
^I'^  the  loom  it  is  on  a  roll,  and  as 

we  sometimes  have  to  make  sev- 
eral thousand  yards  of  cloth 
from  one  roll  you  will  see  that  we  have  to  use 
very  long  threads,  and  then  there  are  a  good 
many  threads  in  a  wide  piece  of  cloth,  so  we 
have  to  put  the  threads  from  a  good  many  bob- 
bins onto  this  roll.  When  the  bobbins  on  the 
spinning   frame  are  full,  they  are    "doffed"  by 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


25 


COTTON    SPOOLING 


girls  or  boys  who  lift  the  bobbins  off  the  spindles 
and  put  on  empty  bobbins  in  their  place. 

These  full  warp  bobbins  are  now  taken  to  the 
Spooler.  Each  is  put  into  a  little  holder  so  it 
can  easily  be  unwound,  and  the  end  of  the 
thread  is  tied  to  another  thread  on  a  large  spool 
having  two  heads,  which  holds  about  a  mile  of 
yarn  when  it  is  full.  For  tieing  these  ends  to- 
gether quickly  the  girl  has  a  funny  little  machine 
which  she  wears  on  her  left  hand ;  she  takes  the 
two  threads,  places   them   across  a  little   hook. 


26 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


TIEIXG  YARN  AVITH  "KXOT  TYER' 


shuts  her  hand,  and  the  machine  ties  a  knot  and 
cuts  off  the  loose  ends  close  to  the  knot  much 
quicker  and  neater  than  you  would  be  apt  to  do 
it  if  in  a  hurry.  The  large  spools  turn  on  spin- 
dles and  it  takes  quite  a  number  of  bobbins  to 
fill  a  spool. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


27 


COTTON  WAKPEKS 


WARPING      When  the  spools  are  full  they  are 

^r  taken  to  the  Warper  creel,  which 

is  a  rack  in  which  say  300  to  400 

spools   are  set    in  glass   rests  so 

that  a  thread  from  each  spool  can   be  wound  off 

onto  a  large  Warper  beam,  which  is  a  wooden  roll 

with  iron  heads  and  holds  say  25,000  to  30,000 

yards  in  length  of  these  300  or  400  warp  threads. 

We  should   have  told  you  that  on  this  machine, 

and  on  many  of  the  others  all  over  the  mill,  the 

threads  run  through  loops  or  guides   in  such  a 


28 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


COTTOX  SLASHING,   EXTEKING  EXD 


way  that  if  a  thread  breaks  it  stops  the  machine 
and  so  prevents  uneven  places  and  waste. 
Of  course  when  these  spools  "run  out"  or  are 
emptied,  the  girl  has  to  tie  the  end  onto  a  new 
full  spool,  and  this  keeps  her  busy  most  of  the 
time. 

If  a  cloth  is  40  inches  wide  and 
there  are  50  threads  to  the  inch, 
it  means  that  there  will  be  about 


SLASHING 


2000  threads  in  the  roll  or  "beam"  as  it  is  put 
into  the  loom.     To  get  these  2000  threads  onto 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


29 


COTTON  SLASHER,  DELIVERY  END 


one  beam  we  take  say  5  of  the  Warper  beams  of 
400  threads  each  and  run  them  through  the 
Slasher.  This  machine  has  a  rack  for  holding 
the  Warper  beams,  a  wooden  box  which  is  filled 
with  hot  starch,  and  two  large  copper  drums  fill- 
ed with  steam  and  very  hot.  The  yarn  froin  the 
beams  is  unwound  and  drawn  through  the  hot 
starch,  then  over  the  outside  of  the  hot  drums 
which  dry  it :  then  it  is  tightly  wound  onto  the 
roll  or  what  we   call  the   'Toom  beam".     The 


30 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


W' 


^£^^ 


WEB   DRAWING 


Starch  on  the  threads  has  several  uses  ;  the 
thread  is  apt  to  be  soft  and  to  curl  up  and  get 
easily  tangled,  and  the  starch  makes  it  stiffer  and 
more  easily  handled  when  we  draw  the  threads 
into  the  eye  of  the  harness,  which  we  are  soon 
going  to  tell  you  about,  and  also  makes  it  stand 
the  rubbing  of  the  shuttle  and  the  harness  when 
we  weave  it  into  cloth,  with  less  danger  of  get- 
ting broken. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


31 


WEB   DRAWING 


WEB-DRAWING.  Next  the  beam  is  "drawn-in" 
^JF  when  a  girl  with  a  little  hook 

pulls  the  threads  one  at  a 
time  through  the  eye  of  a  "harness"  which  is 
made  of  twine  cords,  or  wire,  say  10  inches  long, 
having  an  "eye"  in  the  middle  and  fastened  at 
each  end  to  wooden  rods  which  lift  and  drop  in 
the  loom,  carrying  the  warp  threads  with  them, 
and  are  used  in  making  the  pattern  in  the  cloth 
— if  it  is  a  "Plain"  cloth  there  are  but  two  har- 
nesses, each  carrying  half  the  warp  threads,  but  if 
it  is  a  fancy  weave,  that  is,  has  a  figure  in  it,  then 
it  may  take  quite  a  lot  of  harnesses. 


32 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


FILLING  YARX  IX  LOOM  SHUTTLES 


WE  A  VIIMG  Probably  most  of  you  have  seen 

xjT[^  a  loom,  or  have  an  idea  what  it 

looks   like   and   how   it  works. 

To  a  child  who  has  never  seen 
a  loom  the  weaving  may  be  said  to  be  much  like 
mother  darning  socks,  for  just  as  her  needle 
draws  the  yarn  in  and  out  between  the  threads 
which  run  the  other  way,  so  the  shuttle  in  the 
loom  carries  the  filling  thread  over  and  under 
among  the  warp  threads  and  makes  the  firm  cloth. 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


33 


FANCY  LOOM  WITH  DOBBY  HEAD 


The  loom  beam,  with  the  threads  drawn  in  to 
the  harness,  and  also  through  a  ""reed"  (which  is 
like  a  large  comb  and  keeps  the  threads  separate) 
is  set  into  the  loom;  the  harnesses  rise  and  fall  and 
thus  open  up  the  warp  threads  so  that  the  shuttle 
can  pass  through,  carrying  the  filling  thread,  and 
the  way  the  threads  cross  each  other  makes  the 
pattern  or  figure. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  cloth,  plain  and  fan- 
cy or  figured.     Your  mother's  apron  very  likely 


34 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


(f^ 


<N^"¥ 


COTTOJSr  WEAVING  ROOM,  PLAIN  AT'TOMATIC  LOOMS 


is  plain  cloth,  while  your  table-cloth  is  probably 
figured.  In  the  plain  cloth  half  the  warp  threads 
are  held  up  and  half  dropped  down,  the  filling 
thread  is  carried  through  by  the  shuttle,  then  be- 
fore it  conies  back  the  harnesses  take  turns  and 
the  filling  thread  is  thus  shut  in  between  the 
warp  threads  which  are  half  the  time  above  and 
half  the  time  below  the  filling  thread. 

If  the   cloth  is  woven  with  yarn  just  as  it 
comes  from  the  spindle  without  being  dyed  it  is 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


35 


INSPECTING  GRAY  CLOTH  FOR  IMPERFECTIONS 


known  as  "grey"  cloth,  or  when  you  buy  it  at  the 
store  it  would  be  called  "unbleached".  "White" 
cloth  would  be  bleached,  and  then  there  are  a 
great  number  of  kinds  of  dyed  and  printed  cloths 
just  as  there  are  a  great  number  of  fancy  kinds 
of  weaving. 


36  PACIFIC  MILLS 


The  PACIFIC  MILLS  is  one  of  the  largest 
cloth  making  companies  in  the  United  States. 
For  about  65  years  this  company  has  been  among 
the  leaders  in  making  both  cotton  and  worsted 
dress  goods  for  ladies'  wear.  Over  15,000  looms 
are  busy  all  the  time  making  the  millions  of  yards 
of  cloth  turned  out  each  year,  and  all  the  cotton 
cloth  is  dyed  or  printed  in  its  great  Pacific  Print 
Works  at  Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  whose  name 
is  known  in  nearly  every  home  all  over  our 
Country. 


PACIFIC  MILLS  37 


CALICO 
PRINTING 
AND 
DYEING 


38  PACIFIC   MILLS 


CALICO  PRINTING 

Cotton  Cloth  as  it  comes  from  the  loom  is  known 
as  "gray"  or  unbleached  cloth.  It  is  rather  yel- 
lowish in  color  and  does  not  have  a  finished  ap- 
pearance, so  if  you  want  a  nice  white  cloth  it 
must  be  bleached.  Perhaps  your  mother  prefers 
to  buy  the  unbleached  cloth  and  bleach  it  her- 
self, which  she  can  do  by  spreading  it  on  the 
grass  and  letting  the  sun  shine  on  it  for  a  few 
days,  but  usually  she  buys  it  already  bleached. 
But  if  she  wants  to  make  it  into  aprons  or  house 
dresses,  drapery  curtain,  or  for  any  other  purpose 
where  she  wants  it  colored,  then  it  must  be  dyed 
or  printed. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


39 


I.NDIUO  D\EiNG  MACUl.NK 


DYEING  When  cloth  is  dyed  in  large  fac- 

^J^"  tories  the  ends  of  a  good  many 

pieces  are  sewed  together  so  as 

to    make  a  long  roll   of  many 

yards  and  this  cloth  is  drawn  by  rollers  through 

large  boxes  filled  with  the  liquid  dyes,  after  which 

it  is  dried,  starched  and  ironed  (calendered)  and 

wrapped  up  into  neat  packages. 


40 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


PADDER  FOR  DYEING 


PRINTING  By  printing  is  meant  the  stamp- 

^I^^  ing  of  a   colored  figure  or  pat- 

tern on  the  cloth.  Many  years 
ago  the  Chinese  and  the  Egyp- 
tians printed  figures  on  cloth  by  means  of  wood- 
en blocks  on  which  the  figure  was  cut,  then  color 
was  spread  over  the  face  of  the  block  which  was 
then  placed  on  the  cloth  and  a  sharp  blow  from 
a  mallet  stamped  the  figure  on  the  cloth.  This 
was  rather  slow  work,  you  see  it  would  take  a 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


41 


A  LINE  OF  48  CALICO  PRINTING  MACHINES 


long  time  to  stamp  figures  over  many  yards  of 
cloth,  and  it  would  cost  too  much.  Now,  instead 
of  wooden  blocks  we  use  copper  rollers,  one  for 
each  color  in  the  pattern,  each  roller  having  en- 
graved or  "sunk  in"  on  its  smooth  face  that  part 
of  the  pattern  which  goes  with  its  color.  These 
rollers  are  placed  in  the  printing  machine  so  as 
to  turn  or  roll  against  the  face  of  a  large  drum 
about  as  wide  as  the  rolls  are  long,  the  cloth  is 
drawn  between  the  drum  and  the  rolls,  and  each 
roll  in  turn  prints  on   its  color   so   that   what 


42 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


-\-H 


SEWING  ENDS  OF  GRAY  CLOTH  PIECES  BEFORE  SINGEING 


went  in  as  clean  white  cloth  comes  away  from 
the  last  roll  with  all  the  colors  exactly  fitting 
each  other,  and  a  good  many  yards  a  day  can  be 
printed  on  one  of  these  machines. 

Preparation  But  you  must    not   think   that 

for  printing  is  a   simple    matter — 

Frmting  there  are  a  good   many   things 

that  have  to  be  done  to  the 
cloth  before  it  is  ready  to  be  printed  upon,  and 
it  has  to  be   handled  a  good   many  times  after- 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


43 


SINGEING  CLOTH  BY  GAS  FLAMES 


ward  before  it  has  that  nice  "finish"  which 
would  lead  your  mother  to  buy  it  as  a  good  piece 
of  cloth.  You  know  how  easy  it  is  to  write 
with  a  good  pen  on  a  piece  of  smooth  paper,  but 
on  a  coarse  rough  paper,  or  when  you  get  a  bit 
of  lint  in  your  pen,  then  the  ink  spreads  and 
you  get  an  ugly  blotch,  Just  so  when  we  wish 
to  print  a  pattern  on  the  cloth,  it  must  first  be 
made  white  and  with  a  smooth  surface.  When 
the  cloth  comes  from  the  loom  there  is  a  loose 
fuzz  on  the  face  which  would  act  just  like  the 


44 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


BLEACHING 


lint  in  your  pen,  and  there  are  also  ends  of 
threads  and  knots,  and  the  first  thing  we  do  is 
to  get  rid  of  these. 


SHEARING         First,  as  we  wish  to  handle  the 
and  cloth  in  long  rolls,  we  sew  the 

bll\LrLh\Lr  ends  of  a  number  of  pieces  to- 

gether. Then  this  cloth  is  fed 
through  what  is  called  a  Cotton  Shear  so  that  the 
face  of  the  cloth  just  grazes  the  edge  of  fast  turn- 
ing shear  blades  much  like  the  cutter  in  a  lawn- 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


45 


BLEACHING    KIERS 


mower,  and  these  shear  blades  cut  off  loose 
threads  and  knots  and  trim  the  edges  of  the 
cloth.  But  in  removing  the  lint  we  have  to  use 
a  much  more  delicate  way  so  as  not  to  injure  the 
cloth,  so  we  run  the  cloth  through  a  gas  flame 
just  quick  enough  to  burn  off  the  fuzz  and  not 
burn  the  cloth  itself. 


46 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


4 


'^^ 


WASHING    CLOTH     AFTER    BLEACHING 


BLEACHING       Now  unless  the  cloth   is  to  be 

^I^^  finished  as  a  flannel   ( in  which 

case  it  goes  through  a  machine 

called  a  Napper  which  raises  a 

"Nap"  on  the  cloth  by  means  of  rolls  covered 

with  fine  wire  points  which  scratch  up  the  cotton 

fibres  much  as  when  you  stroke  a  cat's  fur  the 

wrong  way)   the  singed   cloth  is  fed  into  large 

iron  tanks  called  Bleaching  Kiers  where  it  is 

boiled  for  about  twelve  hours  in  a  solution  of 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


47 


caustic  soda,  then  washed  and  soaked  for  several 
hours  in  bins  containing  dilute  acid  which  takes 
out  iron  stains,  etc.  Then  again  washed  and  a 
second  time  is  boiled  twelve  hours  in  kiers, 
after  which  it  is  washed  and  run  through  a 
solution  of  Bleaching  powder,  and  then  allowed 
to  steep  for  several  hours  in  pits  provided  for 
this  purpose.  This  treatment  removes  all  im- 
purities, turns  the  cloth  from  a  dirty  yellow  to 
a  pure  white  and  also   makes  the   cotton  more 


48 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


WHITE  CLOTH  IN  ROLLS  READY  TO  FEED  INTO 
PRINTING  MACHINE 


receptive  to  the   color   with  which  it  is   to  be 
dyed  or  printed. 

Once  more  it  is  washed  and  then  drawn  over 
the  surface  of  copper  cans  filled  with  hot  steam 
to  dry  it,  then  it  is  wound  into  large  rolls  about 
the  size  of  a  big  bass  drum,  as  shown  in  the 
picture  above. 


PACIFIC    MILLS 


49 


MIXING  COLORS  FOR  PRINTING  ON  CLOTH 


COLOR  Meantime  in  an   adjoining  de- 

MIXING.  partment  the  colors   are  being 

prepared  for  the  printing  of  the 
patterns  on  the  white  cloth. 
Gums  from  Africa  and  Asia,  starches  made  from 
our  own  American  corn  or  wheat,  dyestuffs  of 
many  kinds  from  all  over  the  world  are  mixed 
in  great  tanks  or  boiled  in  copper  kettles  and 
are  about  as  thick  as  mucilage  when  spread  on 
the  copper  rollers  and  by  them  transferred  to 
the  cloth. 


50 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


OUrTlXG  ENLARGED  DESIGN  ON  ZINC  PLATE 


ENGRAVING 


As  we  told  you  before,    the 
^T[^^  pattern    is    printed     on     the 

cloth  by  the  use  of  engraved 
copper  rollers,  and  this  is 
a  very  interesting  part  of  the  work.  The  de- 
signer makes  up  out  of  his  head  what  he  thinks 
will  be  a  pleasing  design  to  print  on  a  certain 
style  of  cloth,  and  paints  it  carefully  in  colors  on 
a  sheet  of  white  paper,  making  the  figure  the 
size  it  is  to  be  when  printed.  This  design  is 
given  to  a  man  called  a  sketch-maker  who  places 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


51 


TRANSFERRING  DESIGN  FROM  ZINC  PLATE  TO  COPPER  ROLLER 


it  in  a  large  camera  which  magnifies  it  until  it  is 
say  twenty  or  twenty-five  times  as  large  as  at  first 
then  he  carefully  corrects  the  lines  so  that  the 
design  is  made  perfect,  and  draws  it  in  pencil  on 
a  large  sheet  of  zinc ;  next  this  goes  to  another 
man  who  with  a  sharp  tool  called  a  graver  cuts 
along  these  pencil  lines  and  makes  a  groove  in 
the  zinc.  Then  this  zinc  plate  is  painted  so  that 
each  color  of  the  pattern  is  distinctly  marked, 
and  is  then  placed  in  a  machine  called  a  panto- 
graph and  a  girl  traces  with  a  little  pointer  like 


52 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


COPPER  POLLS  AFTER  DESIGN  HAS  BEEN  ETCHED  ON  SURFACE 


a  lead  pencil  along  the  grooved  lines  belonging 
to  one  of  the  colors.  In  this  machine  has  been 
placed  a  copper  roller  which  has  been  coated 
with  varnish,  and  there  are  rows  of  little  diam- 
ond points  which  are  set  so  as  to  almost  touch 
the  roller,  and  as  the  girl  traces  the  lines  with 
the  little  pointer  she  presses  a  treadle  with  her 
foot  and  this  pushes  the  diamond  points  against 
the  roller  and  they  cut  through  the  varnish  and 
draw  the  pattern  brought  back  to  the  size  it 
was  first  drawn  by  the  designer,  and  repeat  this 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


53 


DESIGN  ON  ZINC  PLATE 


figure  all  the  way  across  the  face  of  the  roller  as 
many  times  as  the  width  of  the  cloth  will  allow, 
if  it  is  a  small  figure  it  would  be  repeated  quite 
a  number  of  times.  After  she  has  traced  that 
part  of  the  pattern  which  belongs  to  one  color, 
another  roller  is  put  into  the  machine  and  on 
that  is  marked  its  color,  and  so  on  until  the  whole 
set  of  rollers  for  that  design  has  been  prepared. 
These  rollers  are  next  put  into  an  etching  trough 
filled  with  nitric  acid  which  eats  into  the  copper 
where  the  varnish  has  been  cut  away  by  the  dia- 
mond points,  leaving  a  little  groove  sunken  in 
the  surface  of  the  copper. 


54 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


A  PRINTING  MACHINE 


PRINTING.         The   copper  rollers,  each  with 
^W  a  part  of  the  pattern  sunk  in  its 

surface,  are  now  placed  in  the 
printing  machine  which  we  have  told  you  about 
before,  and  each  rests  in  a  pan  in  which  the 
color  to  be  printed  on  the  cloth  has  been  put.  A 
revolving  brush  spreads  the  color  on  the  roller, 
but  there  is  a  sharp  knife  edge  which  is  fixed 
lengthwise  across  the  face  of  the  roller  and  this 
scrapes  off  the  color  so  that  it  remains  only  in  tlie 
little  groove  etched  for  its  part  of  the  pattern. 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


55 


MACHINE  PRINTING  TWELVE  COLORS 


and  as  it  comes  in  contact  with  the  cloth  the  color 
is  transferee!  to  it  in  its  proper  place.  These  rol- 
lers have  to  be  very  carefully  placed  in  the  ma- 
chine so  that  each  will  print  in  exactly  the  right 
place,  otherwise  one  color  would  over-lap  another 
and  spoil  the  pattern.  The  white  cloth  is  put 
into  the  printing  machine  in  a  big  roll,  and  is 
wound  over  the  surface  of  the  drum  of  the  ma- 
chine, and  as  it  goes  round,  each  roller  puts  on 
its  color  and  the  cloth  comes  off  completely 
printed  by  going  through  the  machine  only  once. 


56 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


VERTICAL  DRYING  MACHINE 


The  patterns  are  not  printed  in  just  the  same 
colors  all  the  time,  today  the  cloth  may  have 
more  blue,  to-morrow  more  red,  the  pattern  is 
printed  in  all  sorts  of  combinations  of  colors, 
but  always  they  must  blend  and  make  a  pleasing 
appearance,  for  no  one  would  buy  a  piece  of 
cloth  that  did  not  look  pretty. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


57 


CLOTH  BEING  FED  INTO  STARCH  END  OF  TENTER 


STEAMING.        Just  as  you  cannot  handle  paper 
^W  on  which  you  have  written  until 

the  ink  is  dry,  so  this  cloth 
cannot  be  handled  when  first  printed  but  must 
be  drawn  over  a  number  of  large  "dry  cans" 
which  are  copper  cans  or  drums  filled  with  hot 
steam,  which  turn  slowly  and  soon  dry  it. 

Next  the  cloth  is  put  into  iron  boxes  where 
it  is  thoroughly  filled  with  hot  steam  which  is 
done  to  make  the  colors  "fast,"  or  so  that  they 
will  not  fade  or  grow  dull. 


58 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


CLOTH  BEING  STRETCHED  IN  TENTER 


WASHING 
DRYING 
STARCHING 
TENTERING 


After  this  the  cloth  is  well 
washed,  then  dried  over  more 
dry  cans.  Now  that  the  cloth 
is  all  printed  we  come  to  the 
"Finishing."  This  clean  cloth 
hrough  boxes  filled  with  hot 
starch  and  goes  immediately  into  the  Tenter 
frames.  These  are  about  a  hundred  feet  long 
and  three  to  four  feet  wide  and  consist  of  long 
lines  of  hot  steam  pipes.      On    each  side  of  the 


is  next  drawn 


PACIFIC    MILLS 


59 


TENTER— DELIVERY  END 


frame  is  an  endless  chain  having  "clips"  which 
grip  hold  of  the  edges  of  the  cloth  as  it  is  fed 
into  them,  and  as  the  cloth  slowly  goes  the  whole 
length  of  the  frame  it  is  thoroughly  dried  and 
the  tension  on  the  chain  brings  the  cloth  out  all 
exactly  the  same  width. 


60  PACIFIC    MILLS 


CALENDERING  OR  "IRONING" 

Calendering  Our  printed  or  dyed   cloth  has 

"^W  now  been  washed,  starched  and 

dried;  next  we  must  iron  it. 
Think  what  a  task  it  would  be  to  iron  by  hand 
as  your  laundress  does,  all  the  four  or  five 
million  yards  of  cloth  which  a  large  Print  Works 
handles  each  week.  Instead  of  a  hand  iron  we  use 
great  polished  steel  rolls  set  in  a  frame,  and 
their  weight  brings  a  great  pressure  upon  the 
cloth  as  it  runs  between  the  rolls,  and  this  gives 
it  a  final  finish. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


61 


FOLDING  FINISHED  CLOTH  INTO  PIECES  OF  ABOUT  40  YARDS. 


FOLDING.  You  will  recall  that    the  first 

'^]^  thing  we  did  in  getting  the  gray 

cloth  ready  to  print  was  to  sew 
many  pieces  together  to  make  a  long  roll.  Now 
that  the  cloth  is  all  finished  we  need  to  get  it 
back  again  into  pieces  of  a  size  such  as  you  see 
on  the  shelves  of  a  dry  goods  store.  A  roll  of 
finished  cloth  is  put  into  a  folding  machine 
which  unwinds  it  and  folds  it  into  layers  a  yard 
long,  and  each  forty  yards  or  so  it  is  cut  off  and 
then  this  "piece"    is  folded  by   hand  into   con- 


62 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


DOUBLING  AND  WINDING 


venient  shape.  Sometimes  it  is  doubled  and 
wound  into  pieces  half  the  width  of  the  cloth, 
and  this  makes  a  very  compact  bundle.  Paper 
bands  are  strapped  around  each  end  of  the  piece 
and  a  "ticket"  is  pasted  on  it  which  shows  its 
trade  name,  and  tells  the  number  of  yards  con- 
tained in  the  piece.  A  trade  name  sometimes 
becomes  quite  valuable,  a  cloth  gains  a  reputa- 
tion for  fine  quality  and  in  time  its  name  be- 
comes a  household  word. 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


63 


PUTTING  PAPER  BANDS  AND  TICKETS  ON  FINISHED  CLOTH 


PACKING.  To   have  the  cloth   reach   you 

^Jl^  fresh  and  clean  and  unwrinkled 

it  is  wrapped  up  in  paper  and 
carefully  packed  in  a  wooden  case  which  has 
been  lined  with  paper.  Each  case  is  made  to 
order  and  of  just  the  right  size  to  hold  the 
pieces  of  cloth  to  be  packed  in  it.  Sometimes 
where  cloth  is  shipped  to  foreign  countries  it 
must  be  packed  in  waterproof  cloth,  or  wrapped 
in   bales   of  a    size  that  can  be  carried  on  the 


64 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


PACKING  CLOTH  IN  CASES  FOR  SHIPMENT. 


backs  of  mules  or  camels,  for  it  is  not  every- 
where the  railroads  or  ships  can  transport  goods, 
but  wherever  civilized  human  beings  live  they 
must  have  clothes,  and  a  large  part  of  the  hu- 
man race  wears  cotton. 


PACIFIC  MILLS  65 


MANUFACTURE 

OF  WOOL 

INTO    CUOXH. 


66 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


PvAW   WOOL 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


67 


A  FLEECE  FROM  ONE  SHEEP. 

THE     MANUFACTURE     OF 
WOOL     INTO     CLOTH. 


All  of  us  are  familiar  with  pictures  of  Sheep 
grazing  in  green  pastures,  and  have  noticed  how 
their  bodies  are  nicely  covered  with  a  soft  nat- 
ural growth  of  hairy  fibres.  These  hairy  fibres 
are  what  is  called  "Wool". 

This  covering  of  a  sheep's  body,  called  a 


68  PACIFIC  MILLS 


VARIATIONS  IN  AVOOL  FIBRE, 


"Fleece"  is  carefully  sheared  or  cut  off  about 
once  each  year,  and  supplies  the  mills  with  the 
wool  or  the  raw  material  from  which  to  make 
yarns  and  attractive  cloths,  both  "Woolens"  and 
"Worsteds".  The  fibres  of  the  fleece,  as  clipped 
from  the  sheep's  body,  vary  greatly  ;  coarse,  fine, 
strong  and  tender  locks  all  being  present  in  the 
Wool  in  its  natural  condition,  and  until  sorted 
are  unfit  for  making  into  yarns  and  cloth. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


69 


SORTING  WOOL  FOR  QUALITY  AND  LENGTH  OF  FIBRE 


SOR  TING  The  first  process  in  worsted  man- 

^I^  ufacturing  is  that  of  sorting  or 

classifying  the  fibres  according 
to  their  length,  fineness  and  soundness.  The 
choicest  wools  grow  on  the  shoulders  and  sides, 
and  the  poorest  are  to  be  found  around  the  head, 
throat  and  chest. 

Worsted  yarns  and  cloths  are  made  from 
long-fibred  wools. 


70 


PACIFIC    MILLS 


FEEDING   SORTED  WOOL  INTO  WOOL  WASHER 


SCOURING.         In  its  natural  or  unwashed  con- 
^Jl^^  dition,  wool  contains  a  greasy 

substance  known  as  yolk,  which 
is  a  compound  of  potash  and  animal  fat.  A  large 
amount  of  earthy  matter  also  clings  to  the  fleece^ 
and  there  is  so  much  of  these  foreign  substances 
present  in  some  wools  that  in  the  cleansing  pro- 
cess they  sometimes  lose  as  much  as  two-thirds 
of  their  original  weight.  All  this  foreign  mate- 
rial must  be  removed  from  the  wool  before  we 
can  spin  it  into  good  yarn. 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


71 


gfi^mrML^ 


WOOL  WASHER  SHOWING  RAKES  FOR  MOVING  WOOL 


A  modern  wool-scouring  machine  consists  of 
four  iron  bowls  or  tanks,  about  4  feet  wide,  and 
each  ranging  in  length  from  twenty  to  forty  feet. 
Three  of  these  bowls  are  filled  with  a  solution  of 
warm  water  and  soap,  the  fourth  bowl  contains 
warm  water  only.  Through  the  length  of  these 
bowls  the  wool  is  gently  pushed  forward  mechan- 
ically by  rakes,  and  after  passing  through  squeeze 
rollers  is  delivered  onto  the  wire  apron  of  a  dry- 
ing machine,  and  comes  out  at  the  opposite  end 
in  a  clean  and  dry  condition.  Hot  air  is  used 
in  the  drying  machines  for  drying  the  wool. 


72  PACIFIC   MILLS 


WOOL  WASHER 


In  order  to  thoroughly  dissolve  and  remove 
the  foreign  substances  in  the  raw  wool  we  have 
to  use  strong  soaps  made  up  largely  with  potash 
or  soda,  and  this  strong  soap  dissolves  also  much 
of  the  natural  oil  in  the  wool,  so  when  the  clean 
wool  comes  out  of  the  drying  machine  we  add 
olive  oil  to  lubricate  it  and  make  it  work  more 
easily. 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


73 


CLEAN  WOOL  FROM  SCOURING 


74 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


WOOL  ON  CARD  CYLINDER 


CARDING  The  scoured  wool  is  next  taken 

^Jl^^  to  a  Carding  machine   to  have 

the  fehed  locks  not  simply 
opened  and  unsnarled  but  actually  divided  into 
their  component  parts,  the  fibres  being  in  fact 
separated  from  each  other.  This  machine 
consists  of  a  number  of  cylinders  of  various  sizes, 
turning  in  opposite  directions  and  at  different 
speeds.  These  are  all  covered  with  fine,  limber 
wire  teeth  called  "card  clothing"   and  the  wool 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


75 


WOOL  COMBER 


as  it  is  brushed  between  these  cylinders  is  all 
loosened  up  by  the  struggle  which  takes  place 
between  the  contending  wire  surfaces,  each  trying 
to  retain  its  hold  on  the  wool  fibres.  The  wool 
as  it  is  delivered  from  the  Card  is  in  the  form 
of  a  "sliver"  or  rope-like  strand  about  the  thick- 
ness of  a  man's  wrist,  and  several  of  these  slivers 
are  pressed  together  into  the  form  of  a  large 
ball,  and  placed  on  the  creel  of  the  Combing 
machine,  which  is  the  next  process. 


76 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


COMBED    WOOL 


COMBING  There  are  two  objects  in  view 

^Jl^^  in  combing  the   wool,   first   to 

straighten  out  the  fibres  and  lay 
them  side  by  side  ;  and,  second,  to  take  out  the 
short  curly  fibres  present  in  the  wool.  This  is 
done  by  stretching  the  wool  between  the  pins  of 
two  adjoining  circles,  (one  large  and  one  small) 
at  the  point  where  they  touch,  and  as  the  dis- 
tance between  them  grows  larger,  th«  fibres  are 
gradually  drawn  out  between  the  teeth  of  the 
two  sets  of  circles. 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


77 


WOOL  DRAWING— FIRST  PROCESS 


The  fringe  of  long  wool  left  hanging  over  the 
edge  of  the  circles  is  drawn  off  by  a  pair  of  press 
rollers,  and  deposited  in  a  can  in  the  form  of  a 
sliver ;  this  is  afterwards  wound  into  a  ball 
which  is  called  "Top".  The  short  fibres  re- 
maining in  the  circles  are  taken  out  by  steel 
blades  and  constitute  what  is  called  the  "Noil." 


78 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


TWO  SPINDLE  DRAWING  FKAME 


DRAWING  The    Drawing    process    which 

"^l^  follows  the    Combing,    consists 

of  six  to  nine  operations,  in 
each  of  which  a  number  of  slivers  are  placed 
side  by  side  and  then  drawn  out  smaller.  This 
is  done  by  passing  the  strands  of  wool  through 
two  sets  of  rollers,  the  first  running  slowly  and 
the  second  or  delivery  set  turning  quickly,  and 
the  faster  it  runs  compared  with  the  first  set 
the  more  it  '''draws"  the  wool  out  and  the  smaller 
it  becomes.      For  example,  six  slivers  are  united 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


79 


FOUR  SPINDLE  DRAWING  FRAME 


as  one,  and  one  yard  of  this  combined  sliver  is 
stretched  or  drawn  to  eight  yards  in  length,  so 
that  the  new  strand  is  only  six-eights  as  thick 
as  one  of  the  individual  slivers  from  which  it  is 
drawn. 

This  idea  is  carried  out  in  every  operation, 
until  at  the  last  machine  the  sliver  is  small 
enough  to  be  suitable  for  placing  in  the  creel  of 
the  spinning  frame ;  in  this  state  it  is  called 
"Roving." 


80 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


FRENCH  SYSTEM  DRAWING  FRAME 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


WORSTED  ROVING   FRAMES 


82 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


WORSTED  CAP  SPINNING  FRAMES 


SPINNING  Up  to  this  point  of  manufacture 

"^l^  the   sliver  has  little  or  no  ad- 

hesiveness, or  the  quality  which 
makes  the  fibres  cling  together.  Roving  has 
the  form  of  a  thick  thread,  but  lacks  strength, 
and  easily  breaks  apart  when  strained  or  pulled. 
This  weakness  is  due  to  the  small  amount  of 
twist  which  has  been  put  in,  the  fibers  being 
simply  laid  side  by  side  and  given  the  slightest 
amount  of  twist,  just  enough  to  hold  them  to- 
gether.     On  the  spinning  frame  the   roving  is 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


83 


A    "CAP"  SPINNER 


drawn  down  to  the  size  of  yarn  wanted,  and  an 
amount  of  twist  put  into  it  which  forces  the 
separate  fibres  into  such  close  contact  with  each 
other  that  the  thread  becomes  strong,  elastic  and 
firm.  There  are  two  types  of  spinning  frames, 
Cap  and  Mule.  On  the  cap  frame  there  is  a  row 
of  spindles  in  fixed  bearings  on  each  side  of  a 
long  frame,  and  the  yarn  is  spun  on  a  wooden 
bobbin  turning  on  the  spindle  which  has  a  metal 
cap  on  the  top;  the  other  and  older  type  is  call- 
ed a  Mule,  and  this  is  a  long  carriage   holding 


84 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


WORSTED  "MFLE"    SPINNER 


over  a  thousand  spindles  in  a  line,  and  the  yarn 
is  spun  on  paper  tubes  which  fit  snugly  on  the 
bare  spindles.  This  carriage  moves  back  and 
forth,  first  drawing  out  the  yarn,  and  then  re- 
versing it  winds  it  up  on  the  spindles  as  it 
returns,  and  the  spinner  is  kept  very  busy 
travelling  back  and  forth  on  the  watch  for 
broken  ends  which  he  must  at  once  piece  up  so 
as  to  spin  as  much  yarn  as  possible  each  day. 
You  have  all  seen  pictures  of  an  old-fashioned 
spinning  wheel  such  as  our  great-grandmothers 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


85 


WORSTED  FILLING  YARN  ON  BOBBIN  AND  IN  LOOM  SHUTTLE 


used  to  spin  the  yarn  from  the  wool  grown  on 
the  backs  of  their  own  sheep.  This  had  one  spindle 
only,  and  a  glance  at  the  picture  of  a  modern 
spinning  mule  clearly  shows  how  much  more 
yarn  can  be  spun  in  a  day  by  one  operative 
than  was  made  in  the  olden  days  of  hand  labor. 
Warp  yarn  has  to  be  starched  and  wound  onto 
loom  beams,  while  the  filling  yarn,  as  spun  on 
bobbins  or  tubes,  is  now  ready  to  go  into  the 
shuttle. 


86 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


WARPING  The    Warp    yarn    is    spun    on 

^I^  wooden  bobbins  on  the   "Cap" 

frames,  or  in  the  form  of  Cops 
on  the  paper  tube  on  the  bare  spindles  of  the 
mule  frames.  Next  it  is  wound  off  onto  spools, 
and  a  thread  from  each  of  several  hundred 
spools  is  wound  onto  a  large  beam  as  shown  in 
the  picture,  which  is  called  a  Warper  beam. 
Then  the  threads  from  several  such  beams,  after 
being   starched  and   dried   on    the   Slasher,    as 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


87 


WEB  DRAWING 


shown  on  pages  28  and  29  are  wound  on  a 
smaller  beam  holding  just  the  number  of  threads 
wanted  in  a  given  cloth,  and  taken  to  the  Web 
Drawing  room,  Here  each  single  thread  is 
drawn  through  an  eye  in  the  centre  of  the  harness 
or  wire  heddle,  which  controls  its  place  in  the 
making  of  the  pattern  in  the  woven  cloth,  then 
through  a  reed,  which  is  like  a  long  comb  and 
it  is  all  ready  to  go  into  the  loom.  See  also 
picture  on  page  30. 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


BROAD  WORSTED  LOOM 


WEAVING  Every    kind    of    woven    cloth, 

^ir  whether   plain   or  figured,  re- 

sults from  interlacing  two  dis- 
tinct series  of  threads  together.  The  threads 
which  run  lengthwise  in  the  piece  are  called 
the  warp  or  web;  those  which  run  across  from 
side  to  side  are  called  filling.  The  machine  on 
which  the  interlacing  is  done  is  called  a  loom, 
and  in  it  the  warp  threads  are  arranged  in 
parallel  order  at  equal  distances  apart.  Each 
single  thread    is  drawn   through  the   eye  of  a 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


89 


A  PIECE  OF  WORSTED  DRESS  GOODS  AS  IT  COMES  FROM  LOOM 


harness.  As  the  loom  operates  certain  harness 
shafts  are  lifted  up  and  at  the  same  time  others 
are  pushed  down,  this  leaves  an  opening  be- 
tween the  two  series  of  threads,  and  through 
this  opening  a  shuttle  is  thrown  carrying  or  un- 
winding behind  it  the  filling  thread,  then  the 
harnesses  reverse,  and  the  filling  thread  is 
caught  and  held  between  the  warp  threads,  and 
the  way  the  warp  threads  are  arranged  makes 
the  pattern  or  figure  in  the  woven  cloth. 


90 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


INSPECTING  CLOTH 


DYEING  and  Cloth  taken  from  the  loom  is 
FINISHING.  inspected,  and  any  faulty  places 
are  mended.  To  make  its  sur- 
face smooth  and  clean  the  cloth  is  sheared  by 
swiftly  revolving  knife-blade  cutters  and  then 
singed  over  red-hot  plates  or  through  gas  flames. 
To  prepare  it  for  dyeing  it  is  boiled,  steamed  and 
scoured. 

There  are  two  main  kinds  of  cloth  dyeing, 
warp  dyeing  and  piece  dyeing.  In  the  latter 
type    the   cloth   is   woven  from   yarns   in    their 


PACIFIC  MILLS 


91 


PRESSING  AND  WINDING  FINISHED  DRESS  GOODS 


natural  color,  and  then  the  whole  piece  of  cloth 
is  drawn  through  the  dye  kettles  and  comes  out 
a  solid  color,  even  throughout.  See  picture  on 
page  39.  In  warp  dyeing,  the  warp  threads  in 
the  form  of  a  rope  are  put  through  the  dye,  then 
the  warp  threads  are  put  onto  loom  beams  and 
the  colors  arranged  as  wanted. 

A  Navy-blue  Serge  may  be  thought  of  as  piece 
dyed,  while  Ginghams  or  Scotch  Plaids  are  warp 
dyed,  or  more  properly  yarn  dyed. 


92 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


BANDING  AND  TICKETING  PIECES  OF  DRESS  GOODS 


After  worsted  cloth  intended  for  ladies'  dress 
goods  has  been  dyed,  the  processes  of  finishing 
and  preparing  for  the  market  are  not  far 
different  from  those  described  under  the  head 
of  Cotton.  The  cloth  goes  through  the  Tenter 
frames  where  it  is  brought  to  its  correct  and 
uniform  width,  next  pressed  between  hot  plates  or 
between  a  hot  cylinder  and  bed,  then  doubled, 
measured  and  wound  onto  boards.  Paper  bands 
are  strapped  around  each  end  of  each  piece,  a 
ticket  is  attached  to  it  showing  its  length  and  the 


PACIFIC   MILLS 


93 


PACKING  ROOM 


trade  name  under  which  it  is  known,  each  piece 
wrapped  in  paper  to  keep  it  clean,  and  it  is  then 
all  ready  to  be  packed  into  wooden  boxes  and 
shipped  to  the  drygoods  store.  The  fleece  of 
wool  which  grew  on  the  back  of  a  sheep  in 
Montana,  or  it  may  be  in  Australia,  has  made 
its  journey  through  the  mill  in  Massachusetts 
and  the  cloth  for  your  new  dress  is  now  in  the 
store  waiting  for  you  to  come  and  buy  it. 


94  PACIFIC   MILLS 


The  Pacific  Mills  have  the  largest  print  works  in 
the  world,  with  an  unrivaled  output  of  printed, 
dyed  and  bleached  cotton  goods,  and  are  also 
the  largest  manufacturers  of  cotton-warp  and 
all-wool  dress  goods. 


PACIFIC   MILLS  95 


INTERESTING  FACTS- 1918 


The  Pacific  Mills  have  177  acres  of  floor  space. 

10,300  operatives  are  employed:  about  6,500 
males  and  3,800  females. 

The  weekly  payr611  paid  in  silver  dollars  piled 
one  upon  another  would  be  more  than  twice  the 
height  of  Washington  Monument. 

The  annual  payroll  exceeds  $7,500,000. 

654,192  cotton  and  worsted  spindles  and  15,637 
looms  are  in  operation.  If  these  looms  were 
placed  end  to  end,  they  would  make  a  continuous 
line  over  24  miles  in  length. 

140,000  tons  of  high-grade  soft  coal  are 
burned  in  the  boilers  annually. 

The  normal  product  of  over  200,000  acres  of 
cotton  (or  about  82,500  bales)  and  the  wool 
from  2,366,400  sheep  are  woven  every  year. 

500  miles  of  cloth  are  finished  and  packed 
ready  for  shipment  each  day. 

The  annual  output  of  finished  cloths  would 
reach  more  than  five  and  one-half  times  around 
the  world. 


The  pictures  in  this  book  are  selected  from  photographs  taken 
in  our  mills  by  J.  MoKTiMER  Cochrane  ol  the  Key'stone  View  Co., 
Meadville,  Pa.  as  part  of  their  series  of  educational  stereograpliic 
views  for  use  in  Schools,  etc. 


Date    Due 

t\L]:  :■:] 

^7/ 

/ 

1 

1 

BOSTON  COLLEGE 


9031   01773163 


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